The new man of science must not think that the “inquisition of nature is in any part interdicted or forbidden.” Nature must be … put “in constraint” and “moulded” by the mechanical arts. The “searchers and spies of nature” are to discover “her” plots and secrets.
It looks like this is actually a quote from
Carolyn Merchant’sThe Death of
Nature;
only the parts in quotation marks are Bacon’s words, taken
from “The Great Instauration”, “The Masculine Birth of
Time”, and “De Dignitate”.
Francis Bacon
Great quote, but what’s with the quotation marks?
It looks like this is actually a quote from Carolyn Merchant’s The Death of Nature; only the parts in quotation marks are Bacon’s words, taken from “The Great Instauration”, “The Masculine Birth of Time”, and “De Dignitate”.
Confirmed from the linked Amazon.com page by searching the preview for “searchers and spies of nature” (no quotes).
That’s exactly what I did! (And looked up the sources in the endnotes.)
It is the very essence of the negation of the environmentalism. Too rational, too heartless quote for many readers of this page.
I interpreted it as a call for experiment, not industry. I could very well be wrong.